Sport

Bafana aim to fire against Mozambique

11 September 2012

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund is hoping that his charges will continue from where they left off against Brazil when they face Mozambique at the Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday evening in their second international match in four days.

Bafana gave a good account of themselves before losing 1-0 to the South Americans last Friday.

To underline how well they played against the five-time World Cup winners on Brazilian soil, the same Brazilian side faced China, ranked four places below South Africa in the Fifa World Rankings, on Monday and thrashed the Chinese 8-0.

Confident

"If we play the way we did against Brazil, then we should get a victory against the Black Mambas tomorrow," Igesund said after his team's training session on Monday.

Igesund, however, said one thing he needed to emphasise to his charges was to guard against complacency.

"We played very well against Brazil and the boys were all fired up and they need to be equally pumped up when we face Mozambique. We need to have the same passion, drive, commitment and attitude in all our games," the coach said.

"There are a lot of positives that came out of the Brazil match, which we need to explore. The enthusiasm of the players was great. But there are still lots of areas that need improvement. We shouldn't get carried away by our performance against Brazil, but that was a good foundation."

Changes

Bafana Bafana are likely to make two changes to the starting line-up that played against Brazil following an injury to striker Dino Ndlovu, as well as the departure of Kagisho Dikgacoi, who has returned to his club.

"I have to try other options. We are looking at the bigger picture which is the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. It's not only about playing your strongest team. We have to try various options going forward," added Igesund.

The coach's sentiments were echoed by midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala, who said following the Brazil game, fans were expecting nothing short of victory against Mozambique.

Expectations

"In Brazil, we did well as a collective. It is unfortunate that we lost in the end. As for the Mozambique match, the expectations are high because we played good football against some of the best players in the world. Naturally people are expecting us to beat Mozambique and I believe we are up to the challenge.

"We need to continue where we left off in South America," said Tshabalala.

"We set ourselves very high standards against Brazil, and it's up to us now to maintain that performance when we face Mozambique."

The South African under-20 team, Amajita, will play Botswana in a curtain-raiser, kicking off at 17:30. The Bafana Bafana versus Mozambique game starts at 20:35.

SAinfo reporter